The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) includes, inter alia, Local Exchange Carriers (LECs), and Interexchange Carriers (IXCs). A LEC is a telecommunications provider that provides local telephone service (i.e., intra Local Access and Transport Area (intraLATA) service, such as local and local-toll traffic) to its customers. Often, multiple telecommunications providers may provide telephone service to telephone subscribers within the same LATA. In this case, the telecommunications providers are each considered to be LECs within the LATA, and specifically, competitive LECs (CLECs) with respect to one another. An IXC is a telecommunications provider that may be utilized to provide telecommunications service to telephone subscribers across LATA boundaries (i.e., inter-LATA telephone service). The particular telecommunications provider that acts as the IXC for a telephone subscriber is typically the provider selected by a telephone subscriber as the telephone subscriber's long distance provider.
An exemplary, conventional telecommunications network is shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a telephone subscriber 102 is provided telephone service through a switching point of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), here an originating Central Office (CO) 104, via telephone line 106. The originating CO 104 is connected via trunked communications lines 108 to an Inter Exchange Carrier (IXC) Network 110.
The IXC 110 is shown to include a Long Distance (LD) CO switch 112 that is operated by the telecommunications provider 2, where the telecommunications provider 2 has been selected by the telephone subscriber 102 as the subscriber's LD telecommunications service provider. The IXC Network 110 is further coupled to a LEC 120 and a LEC 130 via trunked communication lines 114 and 116, respectively. Here, the LEC 120 is a Competitive LEC (CLEC) with respect to the LEC 130 (i.e., operated by a different telecommunications provider than the LEC 130), and will hereinafter be referred to as CLEC 120. The trunked communication line 116 is a Feature Group B (FGB) or a Feature Group D (FGD) InterLATA toll trunked communication lines, used to route interLATA toll calls from the IXC 110 to the LEC 130. The CLEC 120 includes a CLEC CO switch 122 that may be operated by telecommunications provider 3, where the trunked communication lines 114 may be used to provide any telephone calls, for example IntraLATA toll calls, or InterLATA toll calls, from the LD CO switch 112 to the CLEC 120, under any operational agreements that telecommunications provider 2 may have with telecommunications provider 3.
The LEC 130 may include a Provider 1 LEC Tandem CO switch 132, coupled with a provider 1 LEC CO 134 via trunked communication lines 136, where the LEC CO 134 provides telephone service to the telephone subscriber 138 via twisted wire pair 140. The CLEC 120 has trunking connections with the LEC 130 via a Local Interconection Trunk Group 124, for handling intraLATA toll and local telephone calls between the CLEC 120 and the LEC 130, and possibly CLEC customer originated InterLATA toll traffic destined for the IXC network 110 (via LEC 130) where the CLEC does not have a direct interconnection with the IXC network. Any of the COs described may be Service Switching Point (SSP) ready. For example, an SSP ready CO is a CO having Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) functionality capabilities such as operating under software providing AIN 0.1 or higher capabilities.
As shown in FIG. 1, the telephone subscriber 102 may be located in a Local Access and Transport Area (LATA) X of the telecommunications network 100, whereas the CLEC 120 and LEC 130, may be located in a LATA Y of the telecommunications Network. InterLATA telephone calls, for example, from the telecommunications subscriber 102 to the telecommunications subscriber 138, should be routed by the LD CO switch 112 to the LEC 130 serving the subscriber 138 via the FGB/FGD InterLATA toll trunked communication lines 116, so that the LEC 130 may collect appropriate terminating charges for the telephone call. However, in some circumstances, an interLATA telephone call is routed from the LD CO switch 112 to the LEC 130 via the CLEC CO switch 122, and via the local interconnection trunk group 124. In this circumstance, as the LEC Tandem CO receives the call via the local interconnection trunk group 124, a termination fee for the interLATA call is not properly assessed for the interLATA telephone call.
This invention is directed to solving one or more of the problems discussed above.